May 26, 2006
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Arizona State women's golf team concluded its season with its first top-five finish since 1999, finishing fourth at the NCAA Championships held May 23-26 at the par 72, 6,203-yard Scarlet Golf Course.
For the Sun Devils, who won six national championships in the 1990s, this season's fourth-place finish represents the fourth consecutive year that they have ascended nationally under fourth-year head coach Melissa Luellen. Since taking over in 2003, Luellen has led the Sun Devils to finishes of 18th (2003), 10th (2004), tied for eighth (2005) and now fourth (2006).
"I could not be more proud of my team," said Luellen. "We had a good year. We have been in the rebuilding stages for a little while, but we are not rebuilding anymore."
Winning the NCAA title for the second consecutive year were the Duke Blue Devils, who finished the four-round event with a final score of 15-over 1167. Duke fired a three-over 291 in the final round, which was delayed 56 minutes because of lightning in the area, to post a 10-stroke victory over NCAA runner-up Southern California (1177). Pepperdine finished third (1187), followed by ASU (1195) in fourth place and California in fifth place (1200). Rounding out the top 10 teams of the 24-team event were Georgia, Washington and Florida, which tied for sixth place (1202), Purdue (1203) and Arkansas (1205).
"(The NCAA East Regional earlier this month) took a lot out of us, but we came back strong and felt good about coming in here and had a good first two days," added Luellen, whose team led the competition after two rounds. "Our challenge is to get to the level where Duke is and we are only a couple of places away."
ASU concluded the tournament with a final round score of 11-over 299 after starting the day tied with Purdue for fourth place. Leading ASU on Friday was freshman Azahara Munoz, who carded a three-under 69. Also contributing to ASU's fourth-round team score were senior Alissa Kuczka, who recorded a two-over 74, junior Tiffany Tavee, who shot a four-over 76 and junior Danelle Perata, who shot an eight-over 80.
Winning the NCAA individual title was Dewi Schreefel of Southern California, who was the only player in the tournament under par, finishing with a two-under 286 (73, 74, 70, 69). Leading the Sun Devils individually was Munoz, who finished tied for sixth place with a four-over 292 (73, 74, 76, 69). Other ASU individuals included Tavee, who finished tied for 21st at nine-over 297 (73, 72, 76, 76); Kuczka, who finished tied for 43rd with a 14-over 302 (76, 75, 77, 74); freshman Jennifer Osborn, who finished tied for 75th at 20-over 308 (70, 73, 84, 81) and Perata, who finished tied for 116th at 35-over 223 (79, 83, 81, 80).